


A Fruit-ful Day

by mikkimouse



Series: Tumblr Fics [240]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, First Kiss, Fluff, Fruit, Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-08-02 15:26:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16307777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikkimouse/pseuds/mikkimouse
Summary: Keith and Shiro pick fruit, make jam, and kiss (not necessarily in that order).





	A Fruit-ful Day

**Author's Note:**

> I said months ago that I had a hankering to write a fluffy fic with Keith and Shiro picking fruit and making jam, and then [aredblush](https://tmblr.co/mAbc9cJ1i0E-DPNfpzek-og) [doodled bribery](https://twitter.com/aredblush/status/1022149639322132480). Then season 7 happened and other Things and anyway I finally got around to writing it just in time to celebrate fall.
> 
> And yes, this is based on my not!fic from [this ask](https://mad-madam-m.tumblr.com/post/178686490905/im-trying-to-think-of-how-a-sheith-first-kiss).
> 
> Originally posted to Tumblr [here.](https://mad-madam-m.tumblr.com/post/179064640395/a-fruit-ful-day) Unbeta'd.

"Here." Keith picked the apple out of the tree and tossed it into Shiro's waiting bucket. "I think that's the last one for today."  


Shiro eyed the tree, and then shifted his bucket to his left arm so he could send his right one up to grab two more apples just above Keith's head.  


Keith made a face and hopped off the ladder to land lightly on the ground. "Show off."  


Shiro grinned. "Takes one to know one, huh?"  


Keith gave him a cocky smile and picked up the basket of strawberries and blackberries sitting beside the ladder. "I don't know what you're talking about."  


Shiro laughed and bumped Keith's shoulder, then started back toward the house. It was a warm day, but the morning had held just enough chill to remind him that fall was on the way. This was probably the last harvest he'd get from the strawberries and blackberries for the year, but he'd have a few more weeks of apples.  


After everything—after they'd broken the Galra's hold on the universe and started with the slow, agonizing process of building a peaceful coalition—Shiro had bought this house with its land on a whim, after both Sam Holt and Dr. Edwards, the therapist Sam, Keith, _and_  Krolia had badgered him into seeing for his PTSD, had suggested he find a hobby outside of work. Gardening had sounded about as far from flying and space travel as he could get. Not that he didn't still love his job; he did, but Shiro desperately needed something in his life with lower stakes. Nobody died if his strawberries didn't bloom.  


It had turned out to be exactly what he needed. Gardening steadied him, calmed him, helped him reconnect with the world. The cycle of planting and growing things didn't deviate much throughout the year, and Shiro had found he could easily spend an entire weekend with his hands in the dirt, pulling out weeds and pruning his plants. It was good to help things grow, coaxing them out of the ground, after spending so much time dealing death.

His second year with the garden, Keith had asked if he could use some of Shiro's fruit to make jam. Of course Shiro had said yes; he'd chosen to plant fruits and vegetables with the intention of sharing them with his friends. That mostly meant putting strawberries and blackberries into little pint boxes and shoving them off on an absolutely delighted Hunk, who returned the favor by making Shiro all the blackberry cobbler he could eat.  


But with Keith, that meant him showing up first thing in the morning to help Shiro in the garden, weeding and harvesting whatever was ready to be harvested. Shiro had tried telling him he didn't have to, but Keith insisted; if he was going to be using the fruit for jam, he should help take care of it.

Shiro didn't mind. It meant they spent a lot of time together where they were both sweaty and tired and covered in dirt, but happy and relaxed, and sometimes Shiro thought this was even more steadying than gardening.  


He and Keith hauled their buckets and baskets into the kitchen and then went to wash up, then returned to the kitchen to prep the fruit. Some Keith would take home, some would go to Hunk and Shay, and a good amount would be frozen for later.

Shiro sat down with the strawberries and blackberries to weigh them out, and Keith started peeling the apples they were going to freeze.  


"I'm going to try apple butter this year," Keith said.  


Shiro raised his eyebrows. "Yeah? Your peach butter was really good."  


Keith blushed faintly and smiled. "Thanks. I think I like it a little better than jam."  


"Making it or eating it?"  


Keith tossed a few apple slices into the bowl in front of him. "Eating it. Making it..." He shrugged. "It's the same."  


Keith used jam-making the same way Shiro used gardening. They hadn't ever discussed what it did for him, but from what Shiro could see, it helped.  


Shiro gave him a blackberry, and Keith popped it into his mouth.  


"Are you going to expand the garden again next year?" Keith asked.  


Shiro nodded. "I'm planning on it. I haven't really decided what else to plant, though. What would you like?"  


"Raspberries. So I can try the triple berry jam Pidge has been pestering me for."  


"All right. I'll look into it."  


Keith's eyes widened. "Really? You don't have to. I was joking."  


"I wasn't." Shiro rolled his shoulders; they were a little sore from working in the garden all morning. "I like growing things, but I don't use them much. If there's something I can grow that you'll use, I'm happy to do it."  


Keith's face softened. "Thank you, Shiro."  


It was that face that made Shiro's heart do stupid, acrobatic-related things, and he cleared his throat and went back to separating the strawberries and blackberries. "Of course. No problem."

He had no idea when his feelings for Keith had evolved from friendship to love. Parts of his memory remained muddled, where he wasn't sure what had been him and what had been his clone and what was both of them, or even if any of it mattered. It had taken him ages to understand that regardless of where and when it had started, these feelings were _his_  now and they were true.  


Of course, he still hadn't had the courage to talk to Keith about it.

But sitting here, working in companionable silence while Keith frowned over his pile of apples with his long hair tied back and his tongue peeking out of the corner of his mouth, made Shiro's heart ache with how much he wanted this to be his life. How much he wanted to reach over and take Keith's hand and rub his thumb over it and know that Keith would be coming upstairs to go to bed with him tonight, instead of going back home once they'd finished with the fruit.

_Just tell him_  had been Hunk's advice. _You're a pining idiot_ had been Matt's. Pidge had just sung, "Keith and Shiro sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G" until Shiro had physically covered her mouth to keep Keith from overhearing.  


There was a reason Hunk got the most fruit every year.

Shiro put aside the pints he was delivering to Hunk and started hulling the strawberries to freeze.  


"I'll probably try making the apple butter today," Keith said.  


Shiro tossed aside the tops of the strawberries he'd cut off. "Yeah? Need a guinea pig?"  


Keith's eyes lit up. "I'd love one. Want to come over tomorrow and taste-test? I've got some of Hunk's bread."  


"That sounds amazing," Shiro said with feeling. "I'll bring lunch. Or dinner?"  


"Dinner would be great."  


Shiro's heart did a little flip, and he had to consciously remind himself to calm down. "Great," he echoed. "I'll be there with bells on. Or, you know, with pizza."  


"I'd prefer the pizza," Keith said, "but as long as you're there, I'll be happy."  


"Same. Even though you'll...obviously be there. Since it's your house." 

Keith threw back his head and laughed, and he was so damned beautiful that Shiro stood up from his chair just enough to lean over the table and kiss him.  


Which, he realized most of the way through the motion, was a _very_  bad idea.  


Of course, by the time he realized it to stop himself, his lips were already on Keith's.  


Shiro pulled back, his face as hot as the surface of the sun. "Uh..."  


He searched for an explanation, even though he wasn't sure _what_ that would be. However, half his brain was too busy cataloging the exact shade of purple of Keith's eyes and how long his eyelashes were to give him anything articulate, and the other half was too busy panicking.  


"Oh thank _God_ ," Keith said, and cupped the back of Shiro's neck to pull him in.  


This wasn't a brush of the lips; this was a _kiss_ , the kind that took Shiro's breath away and made him feel like he was flying once again, breaking free of the atmosphere to touch the stars. But it wasn't the stars; it was _Keith_ , who tasted like blackberries and who pulled Shiro closer like he wanted to know all of him, like he'd been starving for this the same way Shiro had.  


The only reason Shiro pulled back was because he needed to breathe. Even so, it took a few dazed, shaky breaths before he was even close to steady again.  


"Was that...okay?" Keith asked uncertainly.  


Shiro nodded. "I've been wanting to do that for a long time."  


A long, _long_  time, if he was being honest, but they could discuss that later.

The uncertainty faded from Keith's face, replaced with a brilliant smile. "You have?"  


Shiro touched his face, resting his hand over the scar that arced down to Keith's jaw. "Yeah."  


Keith covered Shiro's hand with his, his violet eyes luminous. "Me, too."  


"So," Shiro stroked his thumb over Keith's cheek, "does that make tomorrow a date?"   


"If you want it to be," Keith whispered.  


Shiro's heart tripped over itself trying to find its rhythm again. "Or...I could come over tonight? Help you make apple butter and jam?"  


Keith pressed his lips together like he was smothering a laugh. "We'll probably burn it."  


"Hey, I'm not _that_  bad of a cook."  


Keith shook his head. "I meant I'll be paying more attention to you than the jam."  


"Oh," Shiro said. "So—"

"Be there at six tonight," Keith cut in. "And don't forget the pizza."  


Shiro's smile threatened to crack his face. "I'll see you then."  


(They did not burn the apple butter. They did, however, burn the first batch of blackberry jam. Shiro was only a little sorry, and even less sorry when Keith gave him a jar of the burned jam with the label "First Date.")

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [Tumblr](https://mad-madam-m.tumblr.com/) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/mad_madam_m)!


End file.
